WTC

The Noordwijk neighborhood of Brussels was demolished in the 1960s. The plan was to build eight giant World Trade Center towers on the site, but this so-called “Manhattan Plan” became bogged down in fraud and crisis. Just three of the towers were eventually built, and today even these are half empty. Emma van der Put, known for videos in which she takes a very dispassionate, long-distance look at masses of people, chose one of these towers as a great vantage point from which to observe the population of Brussels. In a series of photos edited together, the small park in front of the tower is transformed from a picnic area into a tent camp for refugees. Tensions in the neighborhood run high, in great contrast to the optimistic posters for the Manhattan Plan still hanging in the corridors of the complex. Past and present are stuck together using a blue filter. The effect this creates is called , a technique used in film production to give sequences shot during the day a nocturnal feel.